Pompeo: Iran is now world headquarters for Al-Qaida
FOX News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reports on the latest.
Iran has reportedly released a chilling propaganda video depicting a fake attack by its Republican Guard blowing up the US Capitol.
The footage showing the seat of American democracy engulfed in flames was leaked Sunday on state-controlled TV — before Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech praising the elite unit, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
"The Americans have been for years deeply saddened by the Islamic republic’s influence, and they were angry with General Soleimani for this reason and martyred him for this reason," Khamenei said.
The top Republican Guard commander was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad during the Trump administration on Jan. 3, 2020.
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Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) responded to the fake footage, as well as another video of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif giving a stark view of his country’s relations with Washington. "Last week, Iran’s chief diplomat allegedly admitted the IRGC calls the shots in Tehran," Toomey tweeted.
"Now, Iran releases a fake video of the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] blowing up our Capitol. The Biden admin’s priority should be ensuring Iran cannot carry out such an attack, not capitulating by removing sanctions," he added.
Zarif said Tehran will never reach consensus with the US or retract its extreme views, according to the Beacon, which obtained video of the minister. "I believe Iran and the US will never be friends as long as the Islamic republic preserves its identity. Never will our issues with America be resolved," he said.
On Sunday, President Hassan Rouhani also declared that the US had lost its "economic war" against Tehran, saying that sanctions against the country are at the "brink of extermination," Newsweek reported.
News of the apocalyptic video emerged amid the ongoing negotiations by five signatory nations to the pact — China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom — to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
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The US withdrew from the Obama-era deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, under President Donald Trump.
Under the deal, Iran received economic benefits in exchange for cutting back on its nuclear program. Since the US withdrawal from the deal, Iran has begun enriching uranium at ever higher levels.
This story first appeared in the New York Post.